OK, a newbie question:
I come to shamisen from playing guitar, and I wonder about the kamigoma…
I notice there are no notches in it to keep the strings in place, which means the string spacing is left to how the strings are wound around the itomaki. Would it not be advisable to put some small notches in it to establish a uniform spacing?
My inclination is to have notches to hold the strings in place, but I don’t want to alter the tone of the shamisen too much.
Any advice on this?
well the flexibility in spacing of the strings is used by players as in some find it more comfortable to have second and third string closer together for example and having no notches allows for such variations … on the used shamisen I got I actually made a small notch for the thinnest string to keep it from moving in unwantedly but that was to compensate for another problem with the tenjin headpiece . . . I would be careful about adding notches to a working fine instrument I guess it could destroy a well balanced buzzing sound in a worst case outcome …
Thanks BH, I see your point for sure.
I think I’ll experiment a little with some very shallow notches on the backside toward the itomaki. That way they can be used or not depending on preference.
This is not a particularly fine shamisen and since there’s no sawari (yet) I don’t have to worry about messing up the buzzing. That will come a little later.
Isn’t a kamigoma easy to replace, depending on how much superglue you used?
It seems like it would be very easy to replace, Yatagarasu.
In this case it won’t be needed: the notches do exactly what I want them to, and I found a great new buzzy spot for ichi no ito in the process.
Great!
and welcome to the forum uh I’ve been to disneyland once …
easy to make as well I think. You could file some up from brass bars or screws and experiment. When I make mine, I make little posts and drill tiny holes where it sits in the tenjin.
I’m one of those people who always adjusts the spacing of the strings. I would take BHs advice and try it out without notching. However my ichi string does have a small spot to rest.